Priyanka Gandhi demands that Lakhimpur Kheri panchayat polls be held again
Lucknow: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday met two women with whom the BJP workers had allegedly misbehaved, and demanded that the recent panchayat elections held in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh be cancelled and re-polls be held.
She is on a two-day visit to the capital city ahead of the crucial Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls next year.
On July 9, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had alleged that the BJP workers misbehaved with his party candidate Ritu Singh and her proposer Anita Yadav. He also claimed that the saffron party workers pulled the sarees of Ritu and Anita.
"I came to meet them, because they are women, they are my sisters, and I want to tell (them) that each and every woman of India stands with them. I told them not to feel afraid, and have confidence.
One day, you (the two women) will file the nomination papers, and emerge victorious in the polls. You must fight, and all of us will fight for you," Gandhi told reporters at Semra village in Pathgava block of Lakhimpur Kheri district.
UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu was also present during Gandhi's meeting with Ritu and Anita.
The Congress general secretary further said, "This is a fight for democracy. Women were given reservation in our democracy so that their rights can be upheld. And the situation has become such wherein a woman went to file her nomination papers, and she was beaten up. This is not democracy. I demand that this election be cancelled, and also at all those places where these types of incidents have occurred, and re-polling be held."
Putting the ball in the state government's court to fix things, she said all those responsible for such an act should be held accountable.
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Rupee crashes 46 paise to 92.28 against US dollar in early trade, nears all-time low
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee plummeted 46 paise to near its all-time intra-day low of 92.28 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday as global crude oil prices shot up and the greenback strengthened amid the worsening situation in the Middle East.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by a staggering 25.68 per cent at USD 116.5 per barrel in futures trade as the war between US-Israel and Iran intensified.
A big surge in FII outflows and a crash at the domestic equity market in morning trade put further pressure in the local unit, forex traders said.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 92.22 against the US dollar before declining further to 92.28, down 46 paise from its previous close. The rupee had hit an all-time intra-day low of 92.35 on March 4.
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The rupee depreciated 18 paise against the US dollar on Friday to close at 91.82 against the American currency.
"The rupee will remain vulnerable to the rising oil prices which have risen by more than 28 per cent since the last closure on Friday. Asian currencies were also lower on Monday," Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said.
Rupee might touch 93.00 if oil remains above USD 100 in the coming trading sessions, he added.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.66 per cent higher at 99.64.
On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex crashed 2,345.89 points to 76,573.01 in early trade, while Nifty tumbled 708.75 points to 23,741.70.
Foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 6,030.38 crore on a net basis on Friday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, India's forex reserves jumped USD 4.885 billion to an all-time high of USD 728.494 billion during the week ended February 27, the Reserve Bank said on Friday.
